First Look: Rosemary’s Baby Prequel Apartment 7A
Julia Garner and Dianne Wiest star in this follow-up to the 1968 thriller, centering a side character’s nightmarish untold story.
t’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation: How do you make a follow-up to Rosemary’s Baby in a way that expands on the 1968 classic without undermining its unsettling finale? Ira Levin, the late novelist who penned the original tale, failed this test himself when he released his own widely scorned sequel novel in 1997, Son of Rosemary. (It turns out to all be a terrible dream—which is almost more dispiriting than the rise of the Antichrist.)
The future for this malevolent child was left unknown at the end of the first novel and film, when the manipulated young mother (played in Roman Polanski’s movie by Mia Farrow) beheld her infant for the first time and managed to smile warmly, despite having been tricked into giving birth to evil incarnate. Producers who held the rights to the follow-up spent years grappling with what the next chapter should be. In Apartment 7A, filmmaker Natalie Erika James avoids meddling with Rosemary and her baby by shifting focus to a side character whose brief arc was no less haunting, tragic, and mysterious.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 53 | October 9, 2024 4:05 AM
|
They did a knockout job casting Roman Castavet.
Weist doesn't look a think like Ruth Gordon but I imagine she channeled everything into her performance.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | July 17, 2024 3:22 PM
|
Dianne Wiest has never done me wrong, so I trust her. I doubt this movie can bear the oppressive legacy of the original, but I am curious.
by Anonymous | reply 2 | July 17, 2024 3:25 PM
|
Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby!
by Anonymous | reply 3 | July 17, 2024 3:47 PM
|
I always wanted to hear more about Mrs. Gardenia. I wonder if Terry met her before she died?
by Anonymous | reply 4 | July 18, 2024 1:04 AM
|
I’m glad Dianne Wiest is getting more work. I remember an article from a few years ago where she admitted having to move out of her apartment because she could no longer afford rent. She’s a solid actress and should be seen more.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | July 18, 2024 1:09 AM
|
Julia Garner is extremely hard to look at. She had the face of someone with Down’s.
by Anonymous | reply 6 | July 18, 2024 1:15 AM
|
Is this about the girl from the laundry room who looks like the actress?
by Anonymous | reply 7 | July 18, 2024 3:21 AM
|
The one where they tell her she looks like the actress who was actually playing her? That was such an odd thing to include.
by Anonymous | reply 9 | July 18, 2024 3:56 AM
|
[quote]Julia Garner is extremely hard to look at. She had the face of someone with Down’s.
Great actress, though. Ever since "Ozark."
by Anonymous | reply 10 | July 18, 2024 5:41 AM
|
Seems like an interesting concept and a way to build on, without interfering with, the original story.
by Anonymous | reply 11 | July 18, 2024 5:59 AM
|
About as far-fetched as "Ratched."
by Anonymous | reply 12 | July 18, 2024 6:21 AM
|
The character was written to have sex appeal. Also, it implies in the article she's not a completely sympathetic character. I would have preferred somebody who resembled Angela Dorian or Anna Maria Alberghetti at least somewhat.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | July 18, 2024 7:43 AM
|
If she had been beautiful and alluring would it have lessened the impact of her being a victim in the role?
by Anonymous | reply 14 | July 29, 2024 2:46 AM
|
[quote]r6 Julia Garner is extremely hard to look at. She had the face of someone with Down’s.
She has a great face. Especially for an actress. It can be dressed up, or down.
And she was so good in OZARK.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 15 | July 29, 2024 2:54 AM
|
I have never seen Garner be bad. A face you can’t look away from. And her characters have been all over the place, she’s by no means one note. She’s a keeper. And I’m glad she escaped that Madonna biopic trainwreck
by Anonymous | reply 16 | July 29, 2024 3:00 AM
|
"How do you make a follow-up to Rosemary's Baby?'
You don't. You just fucking don't.
Get your goddamn shit together, Hollywood, or else America won't be there to save you when Donald Trump puts you all in re-education camps and hands your studios over to Kevin Sorbo.
by Anonymous | reply 17 | July 29, 2024 3:07 AM
|
Fertility was a big part of the story and I hope it sill is. I was surprised when I saw Mia Farrow in person. She was one of the most beautiful people I had seen in a girl-next-door way. This was sometime back in the 90s. Very porcelain like and quite adorable. Still womanly. Definitely a look that men would have gone for.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | July 29, 2024 3:21 AM
|
Mia Farrow has a perfect, versatile actress face. She could look almost any way she wanted… either plain or fancy.
(In retrospect, she sometimes looks kind of like Gwyneth Paltrow.)
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 19 | July 29, 2024 3:31 AM
|
A funny thing to me is she campaigned hard for the role of Daisy in THE GREAT GATSBY, got the highly coveted part… but then when she got to shooting it she was pregnant and throwing up everywhere. Plus she hated her stuff wig.
So it went from dream role to nightmare.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 20 | July 29, 2024 3:40 AM
|
I had to do a double take on OP's photo—I thought that was a young Charlotte Rampling at first.
by Anonymous | reply 22 | July 29, 2024 4:02 AM
|
I first noticed Julia Garner in "The Americans." Yes, good actor, but her appearance is quite unattractive to my eyes. That crinkly hair, especially, but also her down-turned mouth that's always got red lipstick for some reason..
by Anonymous | reply 23 | July 29, 2024 4:28 AM
|
R15/R16 It's nice to know there are people like that, when you hear so much about apathy and people who are afraid of getting involved.
by Anonymous | reply 24 | July 31, 2024 1:02 PM
|
Will Jack Schlossberg reprise his granny's role?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 26 | July 31, 2024 1:51 PM
|
[QUOTE] "How do you make a follow-up to Rosemary's Baby?'
It’s a prequel. Do you know what those are?
by Anonymous | reply 27 | July 31, 2024 2:23 PM
|
Your reply has a chalky undertaste, r24.
by Anonymous | reply 28 | July 31, 2024 6:53 PM
|
We already know how this story ends though
by Anonymous | reply 31 | August 29, 2024 3:09 PM
|
I wish they could have convinced Ruth to come back and reprise her roll.
by Anonymous | reply 33 | August 29, 2024 3:17 PM
|
A prequel about the building and it's history would've been a better premise. Could've gone back to the turn of the century and the witchey business going on in that luxury building.
by Anonymous | reply 34 | August 29, 2024 3:18 PM
|
I hate how trailers now just show WAY too fucking much. Every key scene, every big moment. The audience is never trusted to be curious or “do work” in any way. It’s spoon-fed to them for maximum “clicks.” The trailer for “Apartment 7A” also looks cheap.
Look at how effective this trailer is for 2006’s “Little Children” for comparison.
There used to be a certain art to putting trailers together and it’s gone now.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 35 | August 29, 2024 3:21 PM
|
R35 Yes, it did feel like they were showing us every keep point in the entire film.
by Anonymous | reply 36 | August 29, 2024 4:10 PM
|
Yeah! Where’s the prequel about the Trench Sisters!
by Anonymous | reply 37 | August 29, 2024 4:12 PM
|
Just watch the original again.
by Anonymous | reply 40 | August 29, 2024 4:37 PM
|
Shades of a young Christy Turlington @ R20
by Anonymous | reply 41 | August 29, 2024 4:43 PM
|
1976! ABC Saturday Night Movie of the Week! Patty Duke! Ruth Gordon! Ray Milland! Tina Louise! Sam Maharis!
Desert locales! Midwestern Spanish restaurant architecture! Spooky buses! KISS-influenced satanic rock!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 42 | August 29, 2024 4:44 PM
|
R42 Thank you. I’ll be watching this again instead. HIGHLY ENTERTAINING!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 43 | August 29, 2024 4:47 PM
|
“What did the Times say?”
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 44 | September 27, 2024 2:24 PM
|
I actually pitched a TV idea titled "The Branford" which addressed the building's early 20th century history. It went nowhere.
by Anonymous | reply 45 | September 27, 2024 3:11 PM
|
Was Julia Garner in Dexter?
by Anonymous | reply 46 | September 27, 2024 3:20 PM
|
40% on Rotten Tomatoes out of 58 reviews is not good. I have Paramount+ and even I may skip this.
by Anonymous | reply 47 | September 28, 2024 1:34 AM
|
Anyone watching? It’s out yesterday.
by Anonymous | reply 48 | September 28, 2024 7:53 PM
|
Watched it tonight. Rosemary’s Baby is one of my all-time favorites so I was excited to check this out. It was okay - not god awful but nothing I’ll revisit much either. It felt very rushed. There was no build-up to the impregnation scene and the fact she was Bill Cosby-ed by her boss never becomes an issue. I was disappointed there was no laundry room scene with Rosemary but the way the story plays out in this Terry was already suspicious so gushing about the Castevets like she does in RB wouldn’t have made sense.
Garner does a good job and Wiest is always worth watching. Much more watchable than the Patty Duke TV sequel
by Anonymous | reply 49 | October 8, 2024 11:54 AM
|
I watched it last night and agree with R49. It would have been great to see a recreation of the laundry room scene to connect the two movies. TBH I could have done without the extended musical numbers. But it did dawn on me that all Broadway producers have sold their rotten evil souls to the devil. Unfortunately, they don't all look like that actor in the movie, most are trollish beyond belief.
by Anonymous | reply 50 | October 9, 2024 12:28 AM
|
As I said in one of the other 7A threads, Wiest is much too fat to play Minnie Castevet.
by Anonymous | reply 51 | October 9, 2024 12:36 AM
|
Why shouldn’t Minnie be fat? She’s not a Vegas showgirl.
by Anonymous | reply 52 | October 9, 2024 4:03 AM
|